Getting older isn't just about arm flab or memory loss. It has its advantages like senior discounts or two for one at IHOP (between the hours of 4 and 6pm only). It's not much different than the terrible twos but without the spankings....that is unless you want one.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

D O G

The summer of 1996 did not start out to be a stellar summer for my daughter Julie. Her twin sister had just graduated and moved out of their apartment but Julie still had one class to complete before she was “officially” a graduate. Most of her friends had also graduated and moved on to begin their careers. The campus was not bustling with the usual frenzy of students and it looked like it was going to be a long, boring summer.

She lived in a three-story apartment complex just at the base of the campus. Her apartment was on the top floor and though the view was great she was a little tired of the daily climb. She had been treading up those three flights of stairs for four years and though the shapely curve of her legs was proof that exercise keeps you trim she was ready to live on the ground floor.

Living on the top floor had some advantages. Since the apartment complex was surrounded by a forest of huge trees it was like living in a tree house. Julie loved to open all the windows so the air could flow through the apartment. Her front door opened to a private landing so she would regularly leave the front door open to enhance the breeze. With the windows and door open she would often sit on the floor and work on her lessons.

One day she was sitting on the floor studying when she looked up to see a dog sitting in front of her door.

It was a very pretty Pembrooke Corgi. She looked to be about a year old and was just sitting there staring in at Julie. Julie couldn’t imagine how her short legs had managed to get her up the three flights of stairs to her apartment but she was a welcomed guest.

Julie, being a dog lover, tried to approach her but she quickly exited back down the long flight of stairs and was gone.

Every day Julie watched for the dog and usually about 3:00 in the afternoon she would look up to see her staring in the front door. Julie started leaving dog treats and a bowl of water just outside her door. Day after day the dog got a little braver until one day she ventured over the threshold into Julie's apartment. Julie checked her for a tag and found none. The little girl was friendly but still a bit cautious. However, every day after class Julie would find her waiting outside her apartment door.Julie began calling the little dog D O G prounounced "Dee O Gee". She was fast becoming Julie's new summer companion although it was still a mystery where she lived. She didn't look like a stray so Julie figured she must live somewhere in the apartment complex. Why she had ventured to Julie's three story landing was a mystery but she quickly became a welcomed intruder. All summer Julie worked on her last class requirement and spent her evenings with D O G. They took walks in the park and mainly kept each other company.

Julie had begin to suspect that D O G lived in an apartment in the back of the complex. One evening when Julie was taking her trash to the dumpster she heard a dog yelp. Just as she turned to see where the sound had come from she saw D O G get the heel of a boot from a young man. He yelled something like, "That @#$% dog" as he walked into an apartment. D O G had made a fast get away into the bushes and though Julie called out to her she didn't reappear.

Julie didn't see D O G for about a week and just when she was about to go knock on the door of the apartment where she'd last been seen Julie opened her front door to find D O G sitting outside her door. This time she wasn't alone. With her were two puppies that D O G had painstakingly brought up the three flights of stairs to Julie's door. Julie decided right then and there that obviously D O G wanted Julie to help her. So that is when my daughter turned into a dognapper. She waited until dark and then loaded up D O G and her two boys and drove all the way home to my house. She arrived about midnight and I then became the reciever of stolen property.

It didn't take long for Julie to find a good home for not only D O G but her two boys, Darrell and his other brother Darrell. All three dogs lived long and happy lives on the farm of one of Julie's friends. Fortunately, Julie's picture hasn't shown up at the post office either!

5 comments:

That is a perfectly delightful story--especially when she became the dognapper. What sdorable little pups. I'd have had to have kept them. Glad she wasn't caught. What is the statute of limitations I wonder.

About Me

I am a 63 year old newly wed...I can't believe I'm saying that. After 34 years of being alone I married my best friend in the whole world on May 7, 2011. All good things are worth waiting for. My loving husband joined me as a primary caregiver to my 65 year old brother who has battled the disease of schizophrenia since he was 19 years old.